On Thursday, April 10, the East Jefferson Rivals Track and Field team traveled to South Whidbey to compete. Other schools present were Bush, Cedar Park Christian, Granite Falls, The Bear Creek School, The Northwest School, and University Prep.

Traveling to the meet proved quite a challenge due to high winds. After considerable ferry difficulties and a very rough crossing, the team finally arrived at the meet significantly late. Fortunately, conditions at the meet were more moderate and the athletes competed in mostly sunshine, cool temperatures, and varying wind speeds.

The sophomore EJ girls again came through with some impressive results. In the 100m dash, Arden Moore won with a time of 13.51 while Carina Shiflett placed 4th (13.91). In the 4x 100m relay Moore and Shiflett were joined by Clara Camp and senior Sienna Emerson to take the win in 52.25, an impressive four seconds ahead of 2nd place University Prep. This time places them 6th in 1A at the state level currently. Kaydence Plotner took the 300m hurdles in a tight race with a time of 51.90. Kaida Rodrigues scored another EJ win in the triple jump with a personal record (PR) leap of 34-10.25, which ranks her 4th in the state in 1A. Plotner also set a PR of 30-06.00 in the triple jump, which was good for 2nd place.

In the boys sprints, senior John Mercado was the top EJ placer (10th) running a PR of 12.24. Fellow senior Traycen Brown was 6th in the 200m with a 25.42. In the 400m, freshman Zeke Banks placed 11th in 59.94. The boys 4x 100m relay team of Brown, Mercado, senior Nikolas Erickson, and junior Dillon Page Castillo placed 4th with a time of 46.78.

On the girls side, Moore came back to compete in the 200m taking 3rd overall in 28.16. She was followed by sophomore Abby O’Keefe (4th, PR 28.16), Camp (5th, 28.81), and Emerson (6th, 29.15).

In the longer distances, sophomore Joshua Yearian secured 2nd place in the 800m in 2.04.33 with senior Soare Johnston taking 7th in a PR of 2:13.51. Johnston also ran the 1600m and placed 4th in 4:46.21. Sophomore Noah Isenberg was close behind in 5th with a PR time of 4:46.89 while freshman Biorn Brostrom was 8th in a PR of 4:54.03. 

In the field events, senior Mason Iverson was the top Rival in both the 5.4 kg shot put and the 1.6 kg discus. He threw a 34-01.75 for 9th in the shot and a PR of 84-01 for 16th in the disc. Junior Charly Schweitzer set a PR of 85-10 in the javelin to place 17th for EJ. In the horizontal jumps, senior Morgan Hanson placed 9th with an effort of 16-01.25 while sophomore Nico Errichetti was 5th in the triple jump with a leap of 31-02.00.

Girls field events saw O’Keefe take 9th in the 4 kg shot with a throw of 23-06.50. Freshman Isla Emerson was the top Rival in the 1 kg disc with a toss of 63-11, good for 10th place with O’Keefe a place behind with a PR of 62-00. Emerson was also 7th in the javelin with a PR of 79-06 while older sister Sienna clinched 3rd with a PR of 99-08, only one inch behind 2nd place.

Head coach Ian Fraser noted that the athletes had some really solid performances despite the challenging start to the event and praised athletes for their overall focus. He is looking forward to the Lil’ Norway Invitational at the close of the school district’s spring break on April 19 in North Kitsap.

Alice Fraser is the head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach for the East Jefferson Rivals.